Advice on how to increase miles riddwn

[Cyclingfun]

It's been fascinating to read the different 'takes' on cycle mileage and goal-setting on this thread - so thanks to all who replied and thanks to Kajero for asking the question! As I'm in my first year of road biking, and not in the first flush of youth, I haven't set any other goal than to see how far I can get... And so far I've done over 1500 miles. Admittedly I can get out quite often because I'm retired but I'm unlikely to be able to go out for more than a few hours at a time, partly limited by having an elderly husband at home and partly by my own fitness limitations; also, I've never achieved more than 12.5 mph - so far! Some of my riding is a lot slower than that because I'm very slow up hills (but now very rarely have to get off :-) ). Our terrain is mixed, some fairly flat by the coast, inland a bit more rolling and in some areas there are terrifically steep, long hills though I've only just begun to tackle the easier of these recently. Main thing is I love doing it! I have a carbon road bike and a steel cyclocross-type bike and love them both too - and even love messing about with them (cleaning, adjusting [sometimes mess things up but can always get help from my bro, or friends, or the internet - or TE, of course!] etc). Happiness is definitely bike-shaped!